Jeff Donald Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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About three weeks ago I was at McDill AFB for AirFest 2014 featuring the Thunderbirds. The day started out with sea fog blowing in and about the time it cleared the planes with the smoke started their show. We had very poor light and contrast through much of the show.
I've put the Exposure data and cropping information below each image.
1/640 sec. at f/7.1, Aperture priority, 600mm, ISO 400, cropped about ⅔ of original size
1/800 sec. at f/6.3, Aperture priority, 600mm, ISO 400, cropped about 80% of original size
1/1000 sec. at f/6.3, Aperture priority, 600mm, ISO 400, cropped about ⅔ original size
1/400 sec. at f/11, Aperture priority, 600mm, ISO 400, full frame
1/1600 sec. at f/8, Aperture priority, 600mm, ISO 400, cropped about ⅔ original size
1/2000 sec. at f/8, Aperture priority, 600mm, ISO 400, cropped about 50%
The lens performed under the conditions very well I thought. I used a 1Ds MkII that shoots at 4 FPS and could not use the "spray and pray" method of shooting high speed action. I used Servo with back button focus and single point focus (center AF point). My keeper rate was about 70%. Initially I had the AI Servo Tracking Sensitivity (C. FN 20) set to 0 Standard. However, this caused the AF to refocus on foreground objects when the planes passed in front of poles etc. I switched it to Moderately Slow (20-2) and that solved the issue.
I've previously shot several air shows at McDill and others across the country, but this was the first time with this body, lens combination and overall I was pleased with the results. In prior years I'd used the Canon 100~400mm, 300mmf/2.8 with a TC, and 70-200 f/2.8 IS II. While the 300mm produced sharper images the weight of that combo has drawbacks. At the end of the day when the Blue Angels or Thunderbirds perform my arms are pretty tired and even with the IS, I'm less steady.
I personally feel that the Tamron is sharper than the 100~400mm. I've owned several copies and I'd dismiss the argument that my copies were all somehow less sharp. The inability to zoom to 600mm is a severe limitation at air shows in my opinion. If you add a 1.4X TC you're now at f/8 and consumer cameras won't AF. Even if they did, I feel the Tamron is sharper than that combination.
Thanks for reading and I'll be happy to answer any questions, if I can.
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